Just bought our first Z (240Z)

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Well a very positive update to add, my V5c arrived in the post yesterday! Amazingly it only took the DVLA 7 days to get the car registered and issue the paperwork to me. Really impressed with them (not sure how often I'll ever say that again mind... :D) Big thanks to Rob for assisting me with the paperwork on this, made my life a million times easier!

Unfortunately the new replacement brake servo has turned out to by faulty, so a new replacement has been arranged. Awaiting on confirmation of a few bits, however dare I say it I'm really hopeful I'll be seeing the car again at the end of next week and will finally get the opportunity to go for a drive.

Hopefully not long before a long update with pics! :driving:
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Ah, good news Mark. Any pointers you could give me in the paperwork side would help, been a while since I did an import - a good few years. You can download the forms online I presume - you couldn't last time I did it!

Did you get a nice looking reg? When the DVLA had regional offices I'd pop in locally as they had one here and do it overnight. Always got a local Peterborough reg though ...hence why a lot of US cars in the east here have FAV reg no.s ...

What do you get now - is it just random?
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Ah, good news Mark. Any pointers you could give me in the paperwork side would help, been a while since I did an import - a good few years. You can download the forms online I presume - you couldn't last time I did it!

Did you get a nice looking reg? When the DVLA had regional offices I'd pop in locally as they had one here and do it overnight. Always got a local Peterborough reg though ...hence why a lot of US cars in the east here have FAV reg no.s ...

What do you get now - is it just random?

Hi Mike, sorry for the delayed response been mental busy of late!

Let me check at home I've got scans of my forms that I can share with you. If I find the time would like to write a 'Joe Bloggs' version to publicly share on here to help others. I actually requested a pack via post form the DVLA which gave me everything I needed, however I have seen a copy of it online through their website since... Once you know what your actually meant to fill out where and actually how little info is required its dead easy.

Well I suppose that's subjective! It's KUJ 354J I don't know what I was hoping for really, but thought I may get something a bit better! :lol:

Oh right, that's kinda cool. Got some fiends who have had M-Reg plates for both their 240Z's so not really got a clue how they work it out bearing in mind its all done through the same office these days. Strangely my dad's Healey has a ex Scottish reg on it for some reason... There's got to be some kind of logic!

On another note the new servo arrived today so fingers crossed for that. Just waiting now for bumpers (fingers crossed tomorrow), new headlining to be fitted, and no. plates to arrive. I'm desperately hopeful that Thursday is going to be the big day however I've got to keep reminding myself that there's several factors that need to fall into place first :eek:
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
'Age Related' plates from the DVLA are issued in blocks with the same three letter prefixes. The prefixes usually identify old cars that have been imported, but unless you know the particular prefix blocks they just look like period-issue numbers (which is the intention).
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Thanks Mark, whenever you can sort something re the paperwork, I'd be grateful ...

Pre-'63 Yanks I was familiar with years ago that were brought in always seemed to be issued with YSV xxx or something - some old Scottish prefix ...
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Haha so much for a random plate then, seems like I've joined the KUJ club! Is there any way to originally trace where the plates originated from?

'Age Related' plates from the DVLA are issued in blocks with the same three letter prefixes. The prefixes usually identify old cars that have been imported, but unless you know the particular prefix blocks they just look like period-issue numbers (which is the intention).

Useful to know, thanks dude :thumbs:

Thanks Mark, whenever you can sort something re the paperwork, I'd be grateful ...

Pre-'63 Yanks I was familiar with years ago that were brought in always seemed to be issued with YSV xxx or something - some old Scottish prefix ...

Bear with me and I'll have a look :)
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Well time for a major update, the car has finally arrived into our possession! :D

We went down to Fourways Engineering on Friday afternoon to collect the car with all of the works being completed. We are really pleased with how the repairs to the front of the car have come out in particular. We decided to contrast the front end and a Euro looking front chin spoiler was acquired from MJP to replace the damaged orange spook spoiler. Amongst other bits, a new brake servo was fitted, new headlining, new chassis rail fabricated and welded in, MOT light conversion, fuel sender etc. A big thanks to them for their continued efforts :thumbs: By Saturday afternoon we had racked up 140 miles before having to put her to bed in the lockup due to family commitments. Its safe to say its been a roller coaster ride all of the way and quite an experience having now been able to pick up the car.

Having never driven a classic car with no power assistance or driver aids before it was a bit of a shock to the system, in particular the lack of power steering was entertaining to start with however I'm already getting well used to it now. The brakes seem positive albeit they currently pull to the left and are slightly lack luster compared to the setups I'm acclimatized to using, that being said its all part of the experience. I've been told before by my dad that driving the Healey requires concentration is genuinely a tiring experience, and I must admit I've never really fully appreciated what he meant before getting behind the wheel of the Datsun and must confess to have felt very tired having done 90 odd miles on the Saturday. I will in part attribute this to getting used to driving a LHD car as well learning about road positioning and spacing along with all of the other factors, so call me a wimp if you will but I'm leaping into a different world of motoring from all of the 90's cars I've owned! :driving:

The thing that has amazed me most though more than anything is the attention the car gets wherever it goes! :eek: I know its an unusual orange classic sports car however everywhere we have stopped people have come and talked to us, complimented the car, taken photos. The amount of turned heads as it cruises on by is hilarious, I'm convinced I stopped most of the commuters coming off of the Friday evening train picking my sister up from Surbiton station in the evening. Its something I'm loving, I just hadn't realised how much attention it would draw. There will certainly never be such thing as a below the radar drive in this car! :lol:

The soundtrack of a 2.6 straight six is also to die for :bow: I can't get enough of working the car up the gears and dropping back down them for tunnels. I can imagine how good some of the sounds tracks on these cars can be even when mildly tweaked. Its everything I'd hoped it would be in that respect. Unsurprisingly the low down torque is fantastic with the car pulling well in 4th even below 1k rpm, certainly a lazy car to drive if you want it to be. Most remarkably as well even with some very spirited driving the car comfortably returned 20 mpg much to my surprise, and the smiles per galloon were just off the chart! :coolgleam:

We took the car down to Rawles Motorsports open day on the Saturday where I met a friend who also has a 240z and compared notes, and did back to back drives to see how the cars compared. Different setups certainly having their pro's and cons. I also met another owner who is local with an ex Nissan press car, albeit his car wasn't present due to ongoing bodywork. Lots of other classics to peruse over (predominantly Healeys due to the specialist), it was nice to have two cars together though.

After all of the positive news there had to be some negatives to balance everything out :( We've had some developments on the insurance claim with CFR, who after much chasing with unexplained several week delays (both myself and dad work within the insurance industry and cannot understand this when they had all of the required documentation) agreed to settle our claim per our repair quote minus the policy excess ($500). We agreed this with the insurance company however felt the need at this point to remind CFR of their negligence and rightly requested that they reimburse us for the policy excess which we were having to pay. This email request was then ignored for several days (having previously had daily responses to our emails). In light of this my dad decided to make a phone call to pursue the matter with the very helpful CFR claims manager.

Having explained the situation to him, our contact turned from his usual extremely helpful self to completely turning his back up at us. He tried to stipulate that it was only by his grace that our claim was processed, and even tried turning the tables on us that our claim was weak despite all of the evidence and photographs. To cut a long story short he went on to say in as few words, and without directly saying it, if you wish to claim the excess from us then you will have to sue us. Its safe to say we were both completely shocked to have had this sudden transformation in customer service! Despite being well aware of our right to pursue the excess claim (in our view) and considering the morality of being fobbed off we have decided it isn't worth the stress and hassle of pursuing the matter further.

With the above in mind we signed the release and requested the insurance payment was made by bank transfer (for which they added a $50 charge), as if to add insult to injury we were sent a response to the completed release stating that the payment request would take between 30-45 days! :banghead: We were left speechless at this point and with no avenue to protest the ridiculous timescales suggested. Currently as it stands we are still awaiting the settlement payment despite having picked up the repair bill, and I can only summarise this by saying we have only been left with a bitter sentiment towards CFR having previously received fantastic customer service up until this point. They have fallen seriously short in our estimations on just the last hurdle. Both our experiences with the damage not being reported or observed, and then the handling of the claim has left us with low estimations of the company. I know various people have used this company over the years and received good service and had no issues, however I felt the need to share this so that others are forewarned of our experience before choosing a shipping company to use.

Anyway there's loads more positive things I could say, however that's enough for tonight. Here's a few pics for you all to look at, I'm sure there will be lots more to follow as things develop and we get more experience with the car :driving: :thumbs:

Some of the remnants of our chassis rail (Usual rust free 240Z)



Pickup at Fourways



Rawles Motorsport with company



 
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SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Well time for a major update, the car has finally arrived into our possession! :D

I've been told before by my dad that driving the Healey requires concentration is genuinely a tiring experience, and I must admit I've never really fully appreciated what he meant before getting behind the wheel of the Datsun and must confess to have felt very tired having done 90 odd miles on the Saturday. I will in part attribute this to getting used to driving a LHD car as well learning about road positioning and spacing along with all of the other factors, so call me a wimp if you will but I'm leaping into a different world of motoring from all of the 90's cars I've owned! :driving:

I'm sure there will be lots more to follow as things develop and we get more experience with the car :driving: :thumbs:

I know that you're going to love this car BUT feeling tired driving it is WRONG imho ! It's such an easy car to drive and if you feel that you're 'fighting it, there's something wrong in its set-up.:eek:
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Mark, car looks fantastic! You must both be very pleased with it (forgetting the problems with the insurer).

So that is the MJP front valance and chin spoiler? Did it replace ALL the front valance then, or is that the original metal one and then the only piece you've put on is the chin spoiler there in black?
 

johnymd

Club Member
Car does look great. I'm guessing the front spoiler/valance is all one piece fiberglass with the chin bit painted black.

With regard to tiring driving the car. I find them very relaxing but I guess I'm more used to them. I popped to Watford yesterday in my 260z and it was a real pleasure to drive the 120miles. The LHD cars are even more comfortable with softer suspension. Good/new dampers make all the difference too.
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
I know that you're going to love this car BUT feeling tired driving it is WRONG imho ! It's such an easy car to drive and if you feel that you're 'fighting it, there's something wrong in its set-up.:eek:

I'll clarify, the car itself is very easy and comfortable to drive albeit it needs a 4 wheel alignment (slight pull to the left). I don't feel physically tired having driven the car, it just requires a lot more concentration that the cars I'm accustomed to. I suppose I felt mentally drained later that day.

By comparison I jumped into my sisters 2014 Mazda 3 diesel, that car is effortless to drive in every sense of the word and requires very little attention on the drivers part due to all of the gizmo's and electronic aids.

Now there's no shadow of a doubt which car I'd choose every time, its just a very different experience. I suppose I can in part attribute this to getting used to driving a LHD car in the UK (I don't begrudge this at all, however it takes some time to adjust your road positioning etc compared with RHD which is second nature). I'm also going from a car with modern fast road/track spec brakes to technology and drums from the 70's. Again not something I begrudge it just requires more thought in terms of looking ahead more and leaving bigger gaps etc. There's other points across similar lines and I'm sure as I dial myself it it will become second nature however at the moment it feels like baptism by fire, which ultimately left my brain a bit frazzled when it got a chance to shut down.

What you say rings true from my dads comments as he's said its an easier car to drive than his healey with lighter steering, I can only conclude its just a new experience to me....

Your most definitely right though in that I'm already loving every second of it, and trying to find any excuse to go and get the car for the lock up and just go for a drive! Already plans are afoot for this to be the Le Mans 24 Hours car next year :D

Mark, car looks fantastic! You must both be very pleased with it (forgetting the problems with the insurer).

So that is the MJP front valance and chin spoiler? Did it replace ALL the front valance then, or is that the original metal one and then the only piece you've put on is the chin spoiler there in black?

Thanks man, yes been awesome so far. Loving the very retro original 70's interior in particular, I think an upgrade to the instrument backlights will be in order though after my recent night driving experience's. Will get some more photos up this weekend I hope.

Yes it is indeed, the original metal valance was removed and is currently in our workshop for storage. It was decided that it would be best to just fit the entire piece, so each section was appropriately colour coded to suit. Really pleased with the finish tbh, turned out really nicely and finishes off the front end very well :thumbs:

Car does look great. I'm guessing the front spoiler/valance is all one piece fiberglass with the chin bit painted black.

With regard to tiring driving the car. I find them very relaxing but I guess I'm more used to them. I popped to Watford yesterday in my 260z and it was a real pleasure to drive the 120miles. The LHD cars are even more comfortable with softer suspension. Good/new dampers make all the difference too.

Thanks John, Yes & Yes ;)

Useful input, its good to hear of other Z cars doing regular and reasonable trips. There's nothing old cars seem to love more! I'm sure dialing myself into the car will make a world of difference. As mentioned above its been a steep learning curve, however its one that I'm relishing. The car certainly has soft suspension and makes for a very nice cruiser, albeit it does like to nose dive slightly under heavy braking. We just want to enjoy it in its current guise and get as accustomed to it as possible, and we all know theres only one way to do that :driving::thumbs:
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
I'll clarify, the car itself is very easy and comfortable to drive albeit it needs a 4 wheel alignment (slight pull to the left). I don't feel physically tired having driven the car, it just requires a lot more concentration that the cars I'm accustomed to. I suppose I felt mentally drained later that day.

By comparison I jumped into my sisters 2014 Mazda 3 diesel, that car is effortless to drive in every sense of the word and requires very little attention on the drivers part due to all of the gizmo's and electronic aids.

Now there's no shadow of a doubt which car I'd choose every time, its just a very different experience. I suppose I can in part attribute this to getting used to driving a LHD car in the UK (I don't begrudge this at all, however it takes some time to adjust your road positioning etc compared with RHD which is second nature). I'm also going from a car with modern fast road/track spec brakes to technology and drums from the 70's. Again not something I begrudge it just requires more thought in terms of looking ahead more and leaving bigger gaps etc. There's other points across similar lines and I'm sure as I dial myself it it will become second nature however at the moment it feels like baptism by fire, which ultimately left my brain a bit frazzled when it got a chance to shut down.
I can only conclude its just a new experience to me....
Already plans are afoot for this to be the Le Mans 24 Hours car next year :D

The car certainly has soft suspension and makes for a very nice cruiser, albeit it does like to nose dive slightly under heavy braking. We just want to enjoy it in its current guise and get as accustomed to it as possible, and we all know theres only one way to do that :driving::thumbs:

Sounds like you (and many others) have been too coddled with only modern cars and a Z requires that you 'plug' into it - not point and steer, a bit like Avatar and their 'pig-tails'. Once you 'feel' the car - it'll all happen in synchronicity.

And if you're coming to Le Mans, I expect you to contact me beforehand so we can meet up along with several other Zs living nearby !:thumbs:
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Sounds like you (and many others) have been too coddled with only modern cars and a Z requires that you 'plug' into it - not point and steer, a bit like Avatar and their 'pig-tails'. Once you 'feel' the car - it'll all happen in synchronicity.

And if you're coming to Le Mans, I expect you to contact me beforehand so we can meet up along with several other Zs living nearby !:thumbs:

Great analogy, sums it up quite nicely. I'd hardly say my MR2's are from the digital world however they're far from analogue when compared with the Z. The void between the two is certainly only going to grow further apart with the way technology is progressing and the cost of experiencing vintage cars these days.

I most certainly will in that case :cheers: we'll probably do our usual and go Thursday morning to Sunday night however still got ages to work out all of the details. I take it that you and others regularly attend the 24 hours as well then?
 
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